Fan Dies at Texas Ranger Game While Catching Foul Ball

A fan died yesterday while attending a Texas Rangers game at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Texas last night. He leaned over a railing to catch a foul ball thrown into the bleachers by Josh Hamilton and fell head-first about 20 feet. ESPN Dallas has more details:

The fan, wearing a blue Rangers cap and white Rangers shirt, was seated in the front row with his young son. According to others seated near him, the man was yelling at Rangers left fielder Josh Hamilton for a foul ball that was hit by Conor Jackson and ricocheted into left field in the second inning. Hamilton flipped the ball toward the fan and the fan leaned over, caught it and toppled over in the gap between the railing and the back of the scoreboard on the left-field fence.

The man fell behind the visiting Oakland A's bullpen. Oakland's Brad Ziegler was in tears after the game when he heard the tragic news.

“When they had him on a stretcher and they were carrying him out, he was saying stuff like ‘Please check on my son, he’s left up there by himself.’” Athletics reliever Brad Ziegler said. “The people that carried him out reassured him that, ‘We’ll get your son, we’ll make sure he’s OK.’ We just kind of assumed that he’s talking, he’s conscious, he’ll be OK. To find out he’s not is just … tough.”

Video of the incident can be found elsewhere on the Internet. Our hearts go out to the man's family and friends, but especially his young son.

Moonlighting as a blogger to pursue my interest and enjoyment of sports. Former high school and Division I athlete (now a "retired" family man) that loves watching and discussing all sports. Follow me on Twitter (@HoldoutSports) and like Holdout Sports on Facebook.